Brian Raymon Sogol and Scott Thompson Hillier were married May 11 at Riverpark, a restaurant in New York. Sandra Bargman, an interfaith minister ordained by the New Seminary, officiated.
Mr. Sogol, 40, works in New York as the global director of lateral partner recruiting and integration at Dechert, an international law firm based in Philadelphia. He graduated from Yale and received a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. He is a board member and singer with Vocal Ease, a nonprofit organization that produces music performances at nursing homes, senior centers and senior residences around New York.
Mr. Sogol is the son of Teri R. Sogol of Nashville and Joel L. Sogol of Tuscaloosa, Ala. His mother, who is retired, worked as the casework director at the Jewish Family Service of Nashville and Middle Tennessee in Nashville. His father is a criminal defense lawyer in private practice and an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, both in Tuscaloosa. Mr. Sogol’s stepmother, Angela H. Sogol, was a stay-at-home parent. Previously, she was the coordinator of the intensive outpatient program in the substance-abuse division at Indian Rivers Mental Health Center in Tuscaloosa.
Mr. Hillier, 31, is the associate director of sales and marketing operations at Oscar Health, a technology-focused health insurance company in New York. He graduated from Yale.
Mr. Hillier is the son of Norlene J. Hillier and Donald C. Hillier of Springfield, Mo. His mother, who is retired, worked as a human resources specialist for the city of Branson, Mo. His father, also retired, worked in Nevada, Mo., as a mechanic machinist with the 3M Company, a multinational manufacturing corporation based in Maplewood, Minn.
The couple met in November 2011 at a Harvard-Yale weekend a cappella concert in New Haven. The couple did not overlap at Yale — Mr. Sogol graduated in 2001, while Mr. Hillier did not arrive on campus until 2006 — but they both sang as underclassmen with the same a cappella group, Mixed Company, and then as seniors with the Whiffenpoofs, one of the country’s oldest and most celebrated collegiate a cappella groups.
They both arrived on campus with separate groups of friends for the 2011 Harvard-Yale football game. They were introduced at a Mixed Company concert the night before the game, then chatted again at a tailgate party the next day.
More than a year later, they were in contact again. In August 2012, Mr. Sogol was applying for a job at Mr. Hillier’s company, and he contacted him through LinkedIn for information. After several rounds of interviews — and failing to get the job — Mr. Sogol invited him to dinner to thank him for the help.
Neither Mr. Sogol nor Mr. Hillier went into the dinner, which took place in January 2013 in New York, thinking it was anything more than a courtesy. But it became clear to both by the second drink that it was, indeed, a date.
The pair saw each other every day since. Their relationship progressed quickly: They moved in together three months later. In February 2018, they became engaged.
Their relationship felt natural from Day 1. “We’re very different people in the world, but we’ve experienced a lot of the same things,” Mr. Hillier said.
As far as they know, they are the first Whiffenpoofs members to marry another Whiffenpoof. “We checked with the group elders and we believe we can make that claim — no other married couples can be identified,” Mr. Sogol said. “There have been many, many relationships among the group, long and short. But as far as we know, none have gotten married.”
The a cappella group was founded in 1909. Selected, or “tapped,” as juniors, most members take a leave of absence from school the following year to perform nationally and internationally.
Last year, the group admitted its first female member. “Many alumni are pretty agitated about women joining the group,” Mr. Sogol said. “So the idea of two men getting married feels nice and old-fashioned.”
